


Give Us A Month

by RichardGraysonPercyJackson



Series: I'm Sorry [16]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Self-Harm, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Notes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 09:23:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18280313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RichardGraysonPercyJackson/pseuds/RichardGraysonPercyJackson
Summary: Let us give you a reason to live





	Give Us A Month

“Dick, come on,” Jason called as he continued knocking on Dick’s apartment door. “I know you’re in there and I know you’re alive.”

Jason hadn’t been prepared for Dick to open the door wildly, eyes glowing in rage with a hint of green beneath the surface.

“What?” Dick snapped, in no mood for games. “What do you want?”

“I want you to give us a chance.”

Dick frowned, anger receding just slightly with his confusion. “A chance?” he repeated.

“Give us a month,” Jason elaborated. 

“Us?”

“Tim, Damian, and I. Give us a month to give you a reason to live.”

Dick blinked slowly. “And...if you don’t give me a reason?” Dick asked. “If I don’t feel like your reason was good enough?”

It wasn’t an outright no which Jason was thankful for. A sort of maybe was much easier to handle than a direct no.

“Then…” he let out a quiet breath. “Then we’ll stop pressuring you. We’ll let you make your own choice.”

“You’d let me kill myself?” Dick asked, eyebrow raised as he crossed his arms over his chest. “If that was what I really wanted, then you’d turn a blind eye?”

“We wouldn’t stop you,” Jason replied. “But you have to give us a chance, Dick. You have to seriously try. You can’t just keep pushing our help away. It wouldn’t...it wouldn’t be fair.”

Dick was quiet and for a moment, Jason was terrified that the acrobat was going to decide that it wasn’t worth it. That a month was too much work so he was just going to close the door in Jason’s face and Jason was never going to see him alive and  _ breathing  _ again.

“One month?” Dick asked.

“Thirty days,” Jason replied. “Just you, me, Tim, and Damian.”

“Where?” Dick asked. “I don’t have enough space in my apartment.”

“Tanzania.”

Dick choked. “I’m sorry, what?” he placed his hands on his hips. “You can’t be serious, right?”

“I am,” Jason declared. “We fly out to B’s private island in Tanzania.”

“Speaking of Bruce,” Dick said quietly. “Would he be coming?”

“Absolutely not,” Jason declared. “Think of it as brothers’ month.”

“Brothers’ month,” Dick repeated, a small smile on his face as he re-crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the doorframe of his apartment. “You all hate each other.”

“But we don’t hate  _ you _ ,” Jason pointed out. “And that’s the important part. That’s the point of this month. These next thirty days. To show you that you have a reason to live.”

“What about Slade?” Dick asked. “And M and Apollo?”

“What about them?”

“They’re going to wonder where I am,” Dick replied. “I can’t just disappear for a month.”

“Sure you can.”

“Jason-”

“Those three can go fuck themselves,” Jason declared hotly. “Okay? Screw them.”

“Technically I have,” Dick murmured though Jason ignored him.

“I need a solid yes or no, Dick,” he said firmly. “One month. That’s all we’re asking. Try for one month.”

Dick heaved a tired sigh, bringing one hand up to rub his forehead. “When do we leave?”

“As soon as you’re packed.”

 

………….

 

“Are you really going to wear jeans and a hoodie, Richard?” Damian asked after the four brothers  had piled into Bruce’s private jet and taken their seats and the plane was in the air.

Dick tugged on the cuffs of the hoodie. “Yes,” he replied, shifting uneasily under Damian’s stare.

“May I ask why?” Damian asked, choosing his words carefully.

“It’s…” Dick let out a harsh breath, slumping back in his seat and refusing to look anyone in the eyes. “It’s stupid.”

“No it’s not,” Tim assured him. “We’re your brothers, Dick. You can tell us if something’s bothering you.”

“Glad you said that Timbo, cause Dickie there’s only one rule for these next thirty days,” Jason declared from his place seated next to Dick. He waited until the acrobat sighed and looked over at him before going on. “If something is bothering you, we want you to tell us. No matter how stupid you think it is. If you’re feeling suicidal, we want you to tell us. If you’re considering self-harm-”

Dick flinched but Jason chose to ignore it for the moment. “We want you to tell us. Do you understand?”

“Yeah,” Dick said quietly. “I understand.”

“So?” Tim prompted gently after giving Dick a moment of silence. “What’s bothering you?”

Dick sighed. “If I take off the hoodie,” he murmured, tugging restlessly on the sleeves. “You’ll see.”

“See what?” Jason asked carefully.

“The scars,” Dick whispered.

“So?” Damian asked. “We’ve seen scars before.”

“But not these,” Dick mumbled, covering his forearm with his hand. “These are...self-inflicted.”

“Okay,” Jason said easily. Dick looked over at him, confusion in his blue eyes. 

“Okay?”

“Okay,” Jason repeated. “So they’re self-inflicted. So what? We want to see them.”

“Why?” Dick demanded. “I can’t even look at them on a good day, why...why would you  _ want  _ to see them?!”

“To understand,” Jason said gently. “To understand how you’re feeling. To get just a fraction of what you’re feeling.”

“Why would you want that?” Dick whispered, hating the tears that stung the back of his eyes. “Why would you ever-”

“Please, Richard?” Damian asked. 

Dick took a shuddering breath before rolling his sleeves up to the elbow though he quickly pressed his arms to his chest.

“Don’t...I know it’s stupid,” he whispered. “I know self-harm is dumb and stupid and-”

“Dickie,” Jason said. “Let us see.”

Dick let out a harsh breath before lowering his arms for his brothers to see. The three of them leaned in and Dick closed his eyes, waiting for judgment.

“It’s going to be late when we get there, so I’m thinking pizza for dinner.”

“Home made or ordered?” Damian asked.

Dick opened his eyes and frowned. “You’re not...angry?” he asked quietly, drawing their attention. “You’re not going to say anything?”

“What’s there to say?” Jason asked, shrugging. “They’re apart of you.”

“But-”

“What do you  _ want  _ us to say?” Damian asked.

Dick didn’t get a chance to answer before Tim took a guess. “May I guess?”

Dick nodded.

“I think you have this image of us in your mind,” Tim said slowly. “As callous, uncaring people. And maybe we are. I mean, we call ourselves your brothers yet none of us have ever noticed that you were hurting. Is that true?”

Dick nodded tentatively. “Yes.”

“And let me take another guess,” Tim went on. “You were expecting us to say horrible things about you and about the scars, right? You were expecting us to trash it, say you’re worthless. Right?”

Dick nodded, unable to speak this time as he curled up in his seat. Tim gave him a reassuring smile.

“We don’t think that,” Tim said. “We think you’re one of the most important people in our family. In the Justice League.”

“Tim-”

“You want to know a secret?” Tim asked, rolling his own sleeve up and holding his arm out to Dick. “I used to self-harm when I was a kid too.”

“Wh-why?” Dick asked breathlessly, gently taking Tim’s arm between his hands and looking over the old scars.

Tim shrugged, taking his arm back when it was released. “It was before I met you and Bruce,” he explained. “My parents were very...busy people. I was an only child and I was desperate for attention. I saw this as my only way to get it.” he leaned forward. “Do you think I’m worthless because I self-harmed?”

“No!” Dick cried. “Of-of course not!”

“Then why are you any different?”

Dick didn’t have an answer for that. He opened and closed his mouth until Jason placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Did you know I used to burn myself?”

“What?!”

“Every time I messed up on patrol or some kid died,” Jason explained. “After I was Red Hood.” he shrugged. “I’d take a cigarette and burn myself. If one kid died that night cause I was too slow to stop a human trafficker, then I burned myself once.”

“Jason-” Dick whimpered.

“If five died, it was five times,” Jason went on. “Do you think I’m worthless?”

“No!”

“Then why are you different, Richard?” Damian asked.

Dick looked between the three of them before slowly shaking his head. “I...I don’t know.”

“You want the answer?” Jason asked. Dick looked over at him and he said softly, “There is no difference.”

“Well,” Tim said, clapping his hands together. “We are going to have a  _ great  _ month together.”

**Author's Note:**

> There's going to be two shorts coming up featuring the topics Jason and Tim talked about here since I feel those should be looked on.
> 
> I know how I'm ending this and I promise, no one dies
> 
> Thanks to those of you who said Jason and Tim and Damian should steal Dick away, that was perfect!!
> 
> Thank you to everyone who gave suggestions! I greatly appreciated them!!


End file.
